The present invention relates to fishing equipment, and more particularly to an improved baited lure for attracting fish.
Lures for fishing generally are designed to attract the attention of particular fish, and may be designed to spin as they pass through the water. Each lure has a body that is attached to a fishing line via a leader. Also attached to the lure, or to the leader, is a fish hook for snaring the fish in the mouth. Bait may be attached to the hook, so that the combination of the attractiveness of the lure and the scent from the bait brings the fish to “strike” the lure and/or bait and swallow the fish hook. The fish hook, due to its barbs, does not allow the fish to escape so that the fish may be reeled in by the fisherman.
Some lures are hollow so that the bait may be inserted within a scent or bait chamber in the lure itself. These lures have two sections that are secured together by some type of locking device once the bait is inserted within the chamber of the lure. Holes in the body of the lure allow the scent of the bait to escape into the water from the chamber to further attract the fish. The lures are attached to the leader together with the fish hook, or the fish hook may be integral with a portion of the lure.
One such baited lure is shown in FIG. 1. A tail portion has a central hole through which a leader may extend to connect to a fish hook. A head portion includes an extension of the tail portion and a hinged segment, the region between the extension and hinged segment forming the scent or bait chamber when the hinged segment is closed with the extension. A protrusion and a node on the hinged section allow the leader to be led from the tail portion to the line. The fish hook may alternatively be coupled to the leader at the protrusion. When the hinged segment is closed, it is secured to the extension of the tail portion with some sort of snap device, such as a rubber band.
In any of these prior lures, if the leader breaks for any reason while in the water, the lure may be lost. Also having to unlock the two sections to access the scent or bait chamber means it takes longer to rebait the lure when reusing.
What is desired is an improved baited lure that uses a simple mechanism for staying together while in the water, while being easy to retrieve and rebait.